We do things… and stuff.

I am thrilled to announce the birth of my son, Ocean Nikolas Saxon Ourlastname! He was born Sunday, May 24th, at 3:40 p.m. (and 28 seconds, according to Bailey). We had a home waterbirth, attended by our amazing midwife, Joanna Nemrava. He weighed 9lbs.12.5 oz., and was 23 inches long.

So… still no baby! I am now 10 days past my Estimated Due Date, and I really thought I’d have a baby by now! Bailey was born the day before her due date (7 minutes before, to be precise), so I was expecting this baby to be even earlier. I guess it just goes to show that every pregnancy is different.

My midwife gave me a secret recipe to try today, so I am having some apricot juice with some verbena drops, and some toast with almond butter… but I am skipping the castor oil. I just can’t bring myself to try it. Everything I’ve read online says that either it doesn’t work and the woman ended up with cramps and diarrhea, or it did work and the woman ended up with cramps and diarrhea on top of being in labour.

Bailey is now 10 years old! She got nicely spoiled this year. Her bio-dad got her a new bike, and her Grandma L and Grandpa M got her Animal Crossing City Folk which she had been saving up for. My dad got her a book and put a $10 bill on page 10 :), and my mom took Bailey out to buy some clothes. Steve and I took Bailey to supper on her actual birthday (19 May), and we had a little party at McDonald’s with a couple of her friends on May 20. And then yesterday she got her ears pierced!

We went to Instinct Adornment (looks like their site is being upgraded, but there is some basic info there) for the piercing because they are the best and because we know the owners through the SCA. Bailey actually adores Jenna. Here are some pictures:

Cute!

Oh, help. She is so beautiful.

Bailey says it hurt more than she was anticipating 😦 and she did shed a couple of tears, but I think she is glad she got it done.

Anyway, this was just another quick update to let you all know that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. Hopefully the next time I post it will be with news of a baby!

This is just a quick update post to let you all know that nothing’s still happening, lol.

I’m still pregnant, although the due date is mere days away. I’ve put my request in with baby that labour begin sometime on Monday so that Steve can come home early, and then have his three regular days off at home. 😛 We’ll see!

Bailey spent two nights at my mom’s house last week, which was a lifesaver for me. I have had almost no energy, and poor Bailey is stuck at home with me. At least at my mom’s house there are tons of kids to play with.

Like I said, this is just a quick update with not much substance to it, just so no one thinks I’ve disappeared off the face of the earth. However, I also wanted to share something I wrote a long time ago. I think I wrote it when Bailey was a baby or a toddler, but I’m not sure. I have it hanging near my desk, and I was so thrilled the other day when I realized that I am manifesting this in my life at last!

I wanna live free and bring kids with me learning from them as I empower them to never forget their innate wisdom of laughter, stickiness, daredevil impulses, superpowers and neverending sessions of imagination.

Cool.

I leave you with three pictures from our incredibly busy day last Saturday. We must have walked 2 k.m. that day! We went to the Farmer’s Market to catch the vibe of the peace march (I didn’t think I could keep up with the march itself so we didn’t participate), then we got Bailey a free comic from a local store, walked to the library, and then walked all the way down to Riverside Park where Bailey played on the beach. After that I tortured myself with some Wal-Mart shopping and by the time we were done that I was in so much pain! A particularly bad contraction hit me just as I was about to put my key in the driver’s side door and I muttered, “motherfucker!” a little louder than I meant to… just as some guy was walking by! Poor dude. I think he sped up a little.

Bailey watching as the peace march went by the library.

Bailey played on the beach while I sat on a park bench. This picture looks really lonely, but she says she had fun.

Big Sister shirt is now complete! She decided she wanted to make something for the baby, too, so we bought a onesie. In case you can’t see it, the onesie says “Lil Sib.”

We’re all feeling better now. Yay! Bailey had two full meals yesterday for the first time in a week, and we even walked around downtown for a little while. Steve’s strep throat is responding astonishingly well to the antibiotics. I’m not getting those mild waves of nausea anymore. All is well.

Bailey actually spent the night at her Grandma L.’s house on Wednesday night and got to meet her new baby cousin Thursday afternoon. I gotta say, Grandma L. is pretty brave to have a recently-barfy kid in her home overnight! And her Auntie T. is pretty brave to allow Bailey to meet her days-old cousin so soon after having the “plague.”

Check him out! At the time of this photo he was still nameless, but we’ve since learned that they’ve named him Oscar. Oscar! How cute is that?!

Bailey was happy to spend some time with her Dad’s side of the family. And Steve and I were grateful for the break. We decided to have a date night and saw “I Love You, Man” with the free admission coupons that we didn’t get to use earlier this month for “Monsters Vs. Aliens 3D.” I can’t believe we went to the movies twice in one month! I only wish we could do it this month. Steve really wants to see the X-Men movie, and we both desperately want to see Star Trek.

After the movie, we decided to do a test run of our birth tub. It’s a good thing we did! We learned that our hot water tank is woefully inadequate, and we’ve learned that it takes about 1.5 hours to fill the tub the rest of the way using boiling water from the stove. We also learned that it is a bad idea to plug in two kettles at once in our kitchen… unless we want to blow a fuse. Anyway, I got to sit in the tub, and it was fantastic. I normally prefer showers to baths, but I wanted a water birth because I’ve heard about the pain relief and peace that come with labouring and delivering in the water. However, I don’t think I fully understood how wonderful water could be until I tried out the tub. Now I’m a total convert.

I’ll leave you with some pictures of the birds that have been visiting the feeder on our balcony.

White-crowned Sparrow. These guys are recent visitors to our feeder. By the way, the green bag is my little experiment. Value Village is using these bags that are supposed to break down into little pieces in the sunlight. It has been on the balcony for a few months now!

House Finch. For the longest time it was just this guy and his mate visiting our feeder.

Bailey and I are going downtown this morning. It’s Free Comic Book Day, and Peace Walk Day at Farmer’s Market. (I think we’ll sit out of the walk portion though!). Bailey wants to go to Riverside Park to do some drawing, and we need to stop by the library.